Lead screw drive applications

Lockers in parcel stations

What was needed: A parcel station locker system that offers users maximum ease of maintenance
Requirements: Absolutely no lubrication or maintenance, quiet dry operation, mechanical resistance, simple implementation, low wear, ability to handle high loads
Products used: dryspin® lead screw, drylin® linear guide, iglidur® polymer plain bearings
Success for the customer: To offer users maximum ease of maintenance, the engineers use igus® polymer plain bearings in the electromagnetic guides. They allow dry, quiet, maintenance-free operation without external lubrication and are mechanically resistant. This also applies to the lead screws and linear guides used in the parcel locker opening mechanism.

Fish-vaccination robot

What was needed: A delta robot capable of picking up fish and injecting them with vaccine
Requirements: Absolutely no lubrication or maintenance; resistance to corrosion, fresh water, salt water, cleaning chemicals, and abrasion; robustness
Success for the customer: Since the robot is used outdoors on fish farms in Norway, Scotland, and Iceland, all components must be resistant to fresh water, salt water, and cleaning chemicals. The company therefore uses robust, lubrication-free igus® polymer bearings, anodised shafts, and lead screw systems. The design engineers also manufactured a vaccine injector from a CNC block of high-performance polymer. It is resistant to abrasion and to the oil-based vaccines.

Biscuit moulding machine

What was needed: A biscuit-pouring machine capable of producing a wide variety of shapes required by the customer and the market
Requirements: Absolutely no lubrication or maintenance, resistance to flour dust and regular hot water washing, precision
Success for the customer: The machine, equipped with a pump mounted on electric axes, implements biscuit designs and cake decorations by pouring dough precisely. The axes are driven by four stepper motors, and transverse and vertical displacement is on the drylin® guide rail with built-in dryspin® lead screw. The guides are equipped with four WJ200UM pillow blocks.

Mobile scanning machine

What was needed:  A mobile scanning machine with which even complex plates and free forms can be inspected with air ultrasound
Requirements: Absolutely no lubrication or maintenance, many degrees of freedom in movement, low weight, ability to withstand high forces, high precision, compactness, low backlash
 Success for the customer: The designers rely on drylin® series lead screw linear modules with adjustable plain bearing clearance and robolink® D series joint drives with stepper motors, encoders, and initiators. The components are compact and suited to industrial use and allow modular machine design. The engineers say that the drylin® lead screw has amazingly little backlash (too little to be noticed), allowing precise measurements.

Pulley module

What was needed:  Earth can be hauled from pits up to 65 meters deep thanks to a pulley module made by Ets Payant, a French company. The module is mounted under the boom of an excavator
Requirements: Absolutely no lubrication or maintenance, robustness, insensitivity to weathering effects, ability to withstand severe impacts and handle great weights
Success for the customer: igus® solutions can be found in the most diverse areas – In the centre pins for the folding arms of the roller reefing systems, the centre pins on the housings for fastening the hoses to the shaft end support, the guides for the hose tensioning dampers in the housings, and the guides and drives for the winding machine carriage . In all of this, all igus® parts fulfil requirements.

Rotating car wash brush system

What was needed:  In the automotive industry, complex parts are washed automatically after painting in a carousel washing system made by Noyen, a Polish manufacturer
Requirements: Absolutely no lubrication or maintenance, the ability to withstand high humidity and temperatures, low weight, robustness, accurate positioning, ease of conversion
Products used: drylin® SHT-20 linear module with dryspin® lead screw and lead screw nut
Success for the customer: An important design goal was to create simple, ergonomic manual loading capability. The large number of references required not only suitable tools, but also actuator repositioning between references. This required a lockable, easy-to-operate, sliding mechanism.

Automatic disinfectant machine

What was needed: A cleaning machine that disinfects reusable cups within a few seconds using steam at 140°C
Requirements: Absolutely no lubrication or maintenance, use in small installation spaces, robustness, reliability, low-friction dry operation, wear resistance, quiet operation
Products used: drylin® SLW-1040 with integrated stainless steel dryspin® high helix lead screw, drylin® guide rail and matching DC motor
Success for the customer: To make the machine compact, the designers had to miniaturise all components – including the linear guides and bearings for the cleaning dome,  which descends over the cup before cleaning. The components also had to be robust, reliable, low-maintenance, and free of grease. igus® linear guides and polymer plain bearings are therefore being used.

3D printed lead screw nut

What was needed: An alternative to metallic  ball screw nuts that can be produced independently in 3D printing
Requirements: Absolutely no lubrication or maintenance; quiet, smooth operation; easy manufacturing; no clearance
Material used: iglidur® I190-PF 3D print filament
Success for the customer: The design allowed no other way to achieve the set goal. The parameters were prescribed, and the final product had to work. Optimising the contact area was crucial to reducing friction. Thread surface hardening reduced it further. After several printing attempts, the print quality improved.

Rehabilitation device

What was needed: A device that rehabilitates patients with lower limb dysfunction
Requirements:  Absolutely no lubrication or maintenance; quiet, vibration-free operation; low weight; easy assembly
Success for the customer: A movable, variable-length orthosis with numerous adjustable leg clamps allows the Prodrobot adapt to a wide range of requirements. The parts installed by igus allowed smooth rehab device adjustment. A long service life and operation suitable for the disabled are guaranteed because igus products require no lubrication or maintenance.

Racing sailboat

What was needed: A racing sailboat that floats above the water surface by converting water pressure
Requirements: Absolutely no lubrication or maintenance, no impairment by seawater, dynamic movements, resistance to the required loads, smooth operation, low weight, easy installation
Success for the customer: The lead screw nuts, plain bearings, and rod ends installed by igus® guarantee low coefficients of friction for the necessary upper joint sliding, dampen vibrations transmitted from the rudder and, unlike their metallic counterparts, require no lubricants and are easier to clean from the salt residue left by seawater.

Field drainage machine

What was needed: An innovative field drainage machine that can manoeuvre plastic drainage tiles on the job site and unroll plastic tiles alongside the trenching and ploughing equipment
Requirements: Absolutely no lubrication or maintenance; ability to handle hot, humid, icy, and very dirty environments; long service life; suitability for a wide range of temperatures
Success for the customer: Hypro has developed a collapsible upper guide rail frame that can be retracted into the centre column. This collapsible frame uses an igus high-speed lead screw and lead screw nut to achieve this innovative, time-saving solution.

3D printer for workshop and office

What was needed: A precise large-format 3D printer suitable for use in offices or workshops 
Requirements: No maintenance, easy installation, high accuracy, absolutely no lubrication, no dust or dirt adhesion
Products used: drylin® T rail guide and guide carriage with adjustment, dryspin® high helix lead screw and high helix lead screw nut, e-chain® energy chains
Success for the customer: The engineers use linear guides, carriages, and dryspin® type lead screws and lead screw nuts for the linear movements of all three axes. The lead screws allow travel speeds of up to 120mm/s. All components contribute to minimising 3D printer maintenance.

Fabforge Innovations 3D printer

What was needed: A precise, quiet 3D printer that meets the "Made in India" conditions
Requirements: Absolutely no lubrication or maintenance; precise, quiet, vibration-free operation; smooth dry operation
Products used: dryspin® lead screws and lead screw nuts, iglidur® plastic plain bearings, E2 energy chains for medium loads, drylin® T rail guide, drylin® N low-profile linear guides, and drylin® W profile guides with corresponding carriages and pillow block bearings
Success for the customer: Fabforge Innovations is a 3D printer manufacturer based in southern India with operations nationwide. It used to use linear rails from other manufacturers, but to meet the "Make in India" conditions, Fabforge Innovations changed the design and used igus® products.

Innovative Lumifold 3D Printer

What was needed: A compact, portable 3D printer that can still produce detailed 3D parts
Requirements: Top performance even in tight spaces, no maintenance, absolutely no lubrication, low wear and friction, smooth dry operation, no noise or vibration, no dust or dirt adhesion
Success for the customer: In developing countries and distressed areas, a portable device capable of high-precision 3D printing is very helpful. It is a radical advance for dental and medical care. The igus® products in the 3D printer ensure a long service life, clean printing conditions, and dry operation without vibration or noise.

Large-format 3D printer

What was needed: A professional, technically advanced 3D printer that works reliably with FDM technology
Requirements: Long service life, absolutely no lubrication or maintenance, easy assembly
Products used: dryspin® high helix lead screw and low-clearance lead screw nut

Success for the customer: For large-format 3D printers, igus® components are the key elements for X-, Y-, and Z-axis drives. dryspin® DST high helix lead screws ensure trouble-free, maintenance-free movements; the entire drive unit can be easily assembled, and material consumption is reduced.

Surfing machine

What was needed: A sports device that trains physical fitness based on surfing movements - entirely without water
Requirements: No maintenance, low cost, absolutely no lubrication, low wear, smooth dry operation, low friction

Success for the customer:   To realistically simulate the complex surfing movements, the company relies completely on the advantages of iglidur high-performance plastics. Optimised for friction and wear, igus tribo-polymers fulfil expectations, especially in terms of cost and maintenance reduction.

Installation rover

What was needed: A remote-controlled installation rover for installing and uninstalling signalling balls on power lines 
Requirements: Dirt resistance, no lubrication, no maintenance, low friction, high rigidity, travel carriage stabilisation, no metal particle release, energy savings, low cost, good mass-performance ratio
Success for the customer: The igus® solutions were applied to the installation rover's laying arm. The drylin® linear guide ensures high rigidity at low mass and stabilises the carriage. The low friction of the plain bearing bushings and the linear guide saves energy during torque transmission through the polymer trapezoidal nut to the stainless steel lead screw.

Dosing machine

What was needed: A dosing machine in which autocaps ensure that the dosing head closes effectively and automatically after each dosing process
Requirements:  Low cost, very low dry friction on metallic materials, no stick-slip effect, long service life, dirt resistance, noiselessness

**Success for the customer:**The igus® solutions also allow translation rotation with a single actuator instead of using two separate actuators or a helical actuator.

Flexible gripping system

What was needed: A flexible gripping system consisting of one parallel gripper and one vacuum gripper that can be adapted to different object geometries
Requirements: Suitable for small installation spaces, cost-effective, lubrication- and maintenance-free, no corrosion, long service life, simple assembly, robust, reliable application

Success for the customer: For the most compact design possible, classic machine elements were replaced with such igus products as plastic plain bearings, guides, and lead screw drives, which are also more cost-effective.

Height-adjustable pool table

What was needed: A drive system that can move a height-adjustable, fixed table in a pool without any problems - despite the permanent pool water environment
Requirements: Water resistance, absolutely lubrication- and maintenance-free, corrosion resistance, very smooth movements, long service life, hand wheel movement option
Success for the customer: The dryspin® lead screw drives guarantee smooth table adjustment in the pool. The material properties of dryspin® lead screw nuts made of iglidur® high-performance polymers make them perfect for continuous use in chlorinated water. Plastic lead screw nuts and plain bearing bushings and stainless steel lead screws eliminate corrosion.